of Colonel Field turned the fortune of the day, but not without a severe loss; Colonel Fleming was again wounded, by a shot through the lungs; yet he would not retire, and Colonel Field was killed as he was leading on his men.  The whole line of the breastwork now became as a blaze of fire, which lasted nearly till the close of the day.  Here the Indians under Logan, Cornstock, Elenipsico, Red-Eagle, and other mighty chiefs of the tribes of the Shawneese, Delawares, Mingos, Wyandots, and Cayugas, amounting, as was supposed, to fifteen hundred warriors, fought, as men will ever do for their country’s wrongs, with a bravery which could only be equaled.  The voice of the great Cornstock was often heard during the day, above the din of strife, calling on his men in these words:  “Be strong!  Be strong!” And when by the repeated charges of the whites, some of his warriors began to waver, he is said to have sunk his tomahawk into the head of one who was basely endeavoring to desert.  General Lewis, finding at length that every charge upon the lines of the Indians lessened the number of his forces to an alarming degree, and rightly judging that if the Indians were not routed before it was dark, a day of more doubt might follow, he resolved to throw a body, if possible, into their rear.  As the good fortune of the Virginians turned, the bank of the river favored this project, and forthwith three companies were detached upon the enterprise, under the three captains, Isaac Shelby (after renowned in the revolution, and since in the war with Canada,) George Matthews, and John Stewart.  These companies got unobserved to their place of destination upon Crooked Creek, which runs into the Kenhawa.  From the high weeds upon the bank of this little stream, they rushed upon the backs of the Indians with such fury, as to drive them from their works with precipitation.  The day was now decided.  The Indians, thus beset from a quarter they did not expect, were ready to conclude that a reinforcement had arrived.  It was about, sunset when they fled across the Ohio, and immediately took up their march for their towns on the Scioto.

Of the loss of both Indians and whites in this engagement, various statements have been given.  A number amounting to seventy-five killed, and one hundred and forty wounded of the whites, has been rendered; with a loss on part of the Indians not so great, but not correctly known.[21] This was the severest battle ever fought with the Indians in Virginia.  Shortly after this battle the Indians sent messengers to Governor Dunmore, suing for peace, and a treaty was accordingly concluded.  In this treaty the Indians surrendered all claim to Kentucky.  The Six Nations had already done the same thing at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768.  The Cherokees had sold their claims to Henderson’s company; so that when Boone settled in Kentucky it was effectually cleared of all Indian titles.

[Footnote 21:  “History of the Backwoods.”]